1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a system for reproducing an image on a large surface, the image being downloaded into a computer program which automatically operates image producing equipment and a mobile robotic platform which transports said image producing equipment over the large surface to reproduce the image thereon.
Athletic field painting is a large and growing industry. In almost every level of athletics there is a need to personalize athletic fields to a particular team name, logo, or mascot as well as provide income to athletic programs through the placement of advertisements on the athletic fields. The process of printing, cutting, and labeling stencils and having multiple individuals paint through the stencils onto the athletic field surface is a very costly in time, money, and wasted materials. An alternative method of diving the athletic field surface into grids and hand-painting each grid at a larger scale than the original image likewise is very expensive in time, money, and wasted materials. What is needed is an automated system that does not require a large stencil, gridlines, or significant manpower investment to reproduce an image, text, or graphic onto an athletic field surface in an enlarged state. Also, such a system should be adaptable so that any image, text or graphic may be reproduced in any size, oriented in any direction, on smooth or textured surfaces, or selectively modified to accommodate holes or structures on the surface.
2. Prior Art
Wales Patent Application No. 0207107.4 entitled TURF IMAGE MARKER and dated 17 Feb. 2003 shows an example of an automated machine that is designed to perform a number of tasks including the painting of an image onto an athletic field. This invention though similar in purpose attempts to solve the problem of athletic field painting in a different manner. Firstly, the TURF IMAGE MARKER does a variety of tasks which do not relate to the reproduction of an image which increase the weight and power consumption of the machine. A key idea within my design is that this mobile robot should be as light as possible as the turf used in the athletics industry is well-manicured and easily damaged. Secondly, the TURF IMAGE MARKER does not decouple the locomotion means from the image marking means. By not decoupling these two independent systems the accuracy of the image marking means is significantly dependent on the accuracy of the locomotion means of the machine. Exact positioning of the image marking means of the TURF IMAGE MARKER will require constant movement and position correction of the entire TURF IMAGE MARKER including the components which are not used for image marking purposes. Our design decouples the image reproduction means from the mobile robot platform through the use of a painting arm which connects to the mobile robot platform. The mobile robot platform will then move to a given position within an acceptable threshold from the desired position and the painting arm is then able to adjust squarely to the orientation of the image to be painted and paint a rectangular subset of the image without needing to move the mobile robot platform during this operation. This decoupling saves time as the paint arm is able to more accurately and quickly adjust to the proper orientation and positioning desired. Also, this decoupling saves significant power consumption that is necessary to constantly move the entire mobile robot platform as the weight of the platform is much greater and much more difficult to position accurately without numerous adjustments. Thirdly, the TURF IMAGE MARKER allows for each color within the marking system to map to each spray nozzle. Our mobile robot platform will consist of a plurality of paint colors each contained individually and connected to a single paint head to maintain the color purity. Whereas the TURF IMAGE MARKER has the spray nozzles mounted in a linear fashion, our paint head assembly has a plurality of paint heads mounted on a rotating ring in a circular fashion with means to rotate a given color to the active painting position which corresponds to a given position within the image to be reproduced. Fourthly, our design of the painting assembly allows for the paint head to be raised and lowered in relation to the painting surface in order to increase and decrease the granularity of painting and thereby increase and decrease the resolution of the image being reproduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,978 entitled LARGE SURFACE IMAGE REPRODUCTION SYSTEM and dated 22 Oct. 2002 shows a machine that is able to reproduce large images onto billboards and the sides of buildings. This machine is not intended for use on athletic fields or other ground or floor surfaces and does not provide means for large image reproduction on such surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,644 entitled MARKING ROBOT and dated 12 Dec. 2006 shows a machine that marks a surface using coded data found on the surface. This machine is not intended for use on athletic fields or other ground or floor surfaces and does not provide means for large image reproduction on such surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,375 entitled LARGE AREA MARKING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRINTING and dated 4 Oct. 2005 shows a marking machine using a scanner and able to reproduce large images onto a sidewalk or other surface. This machine is not intended to reproduce large images with accuracy and our painting assembly does not contain image manipulation ability and simply uses an image which has been downloaded along with the base software of the mobile robot.